I am not a huge coffee drinker, but I like the caffeine kick and the comfort it brings every once in a while. I probably have about a cup or two a week, and I don’t drink a lot at once. That’s why I love my Keurig coffee maker (which I got at a yard sale for $20 a year ago)- it only makes one cup at a time, instead of a whole pot that I never finish. However, they also generate a lot more waste than a single coffee filter: you have a bunch of those empty plastic k-cups clogging up your trash and the landfills. That’s why I love this post by Jackie at Happy Hooligans with a bunch of different ways to reuse those k-cups:

-Use them to freeze fresh herbs

-A basket of clean k-cups makes some fun building blocks for young kids

-Use them as seed starters for your garden

-Plug the hole at the bottom with glue, use them as paint pots for craft time.

Photo Credit: frankieleon 

I’m a huge fan of finding ways to recycle and reuse old objects. Just because your screen has a few large holes or tears in it, doesn’t mean it’s done for. Should it still be on your window? Probably not. But there are ways to give new life to these used objects! My mom had two large windows sitting around for the longest time before she gave them away. Too bad she didn’t see this article by Megan Baker at This Old House first! Here are some new uses for old screens:

-Protect newly seeded grass- lay down a patch of screen over the area to keep birds from eating the seeds.

-Prevent drain clogs- wad up some screen and put it in a drain to keep debris from getting through

-Sift unmixed grout- or anything else.

-Clean your hands- use a wad of screen as a metal scrubber to get rid of paint.

-Make compost tea, using the screen as mesh. 

Photo Credit: Bethany J. Brady